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ANGEL A

Killer female roots vocal on the tuff lick of the 'Java' rhythm. This tune was originally released on 12" on Park Heights' Son of a Gun label, under the name 'Park Heights Angel' aka Angel Hoytt. This is the first release on 45, and the A-side vocal cut is an alternate previously unreleased mix. Massive T I P on this one reggae heads! 

TRACK LISTING

A. I Love You Dready
B. I Love You Dready Dub

The Titillators

That's The Night

    The Titillators became a band in 2018 and emerge from a bold compulsion: to sound completely unlike any other musical group in existence. On their third album to date, That's The Night , it's clearer than ever that they've been successful in this endeavour. It's a tuneful, mainly instrumental batch of bent exotica played by a group of some of Toronto's most inventive and highly regarded musicians. And while listeners will catch aural whiffs of jazz, pop, soul, electronica, and free improvisation there's something irrefutably singular about their output. They're led by Ryan Driver, whom you may know from his solo recordings on Tin Angel, from groups such as Eucalyptus, and from his frequent collaborations with Eric Chenaux. Driver provides the compositions and plays street sweeper bristle bass, an instrument of his own devising consisting of a small tine of metal plucked on top of an amplifed cigar box. The ubiquitous and multitalented Thom Gill's whistling often plays a disconcerting lead role, while both he and acclaimed jazz pianist Tania Gill play synths. Meanwhile the trifecta of percussionists Phil Melanson, D. Alex Meeks, and Nick Fraser offer rhythmic interplay with one crucial caveat: none of them are permitted to play any component of a standard drum kit.

    Following on from his standout debut EP with Steel City Dance Discs back in 2021, Galway’s gold-toothed prince is now set to be crowned with the arrival of “Fallen Angel”, KETTAMA’s second EP via Steel City Dance Discs. Having gained colossal momentum during the Irishman’s unrelenting touring schedule, the anticipation surrounding this release is palpable, and is now finally imminent.

    KETTAMA has reached a perfect crescendo with “Fallen Angel”; a potent six-track serving of intricately engineered sounds, as the producer bleeds notes of 90s trance and soul into pulsating, percussion ladened grooves and grueling bass, resulting in a deeply contagious melting pot of sound.

    “1997” sets the wheels in motion for this project, as KETTAMA blends a soulful vocal sample with rising chords and an implacable drum pattern: a masterfully coordinated balance that remains consistent throughout the duration of this EP. Initially released as a single, title track “Fallen Angel” plays testimony to this remedy, with its delicate vocals and piano accompaniment, which are carefully woven into the fabric alongside a sonorous bassline.

    “Fly Away XTC” is the diamond-plated lead-track from the EP, with anticipation for its release reaching new heights after a successful series of tests on the tour. The track blatantly showcases KETTAMA’s defining characteristics, as the producer bleeds ethereal vocals and masterful percussion into the fold, while the featured G-TOWN remix is driven by a series of piercing rave stabs and gut-hurdling bass. The otherworldly nature of Fly Away XTC is set to be further echoed on screen too, with a music video directed by Hugh Mulhern, who has previously worked for the likes of Fontaines DC and Hak Baker, set to explore themes of extraterrestrial beings and pagan practices within a rural setting in KETTAMA’s native Ireland.

    Having been released as a single two months prior to the full EP, “Feeling Emotions” ignited the flame for "Fallen Angel", ultimately laying the foundations for the eagerly-anticipated project that would follow. The track again reinforces the unfailing relationship between entrancing vocal samples and a boundless drum pattern, something that is then echoed and mastered in the colossal closing track, “Found My Angel”.

    “Fallen Angel” is a body of work that not only epitomizes the ever-evolving nature of KETTAMA’s sound, but also provides us with an insight into the potential trajectory and direction of one of Ireland’s most promising exports. It is an omnipotent powerhouse of sound, a perhaps generation-defining project that is fueled by nostalgia, and charged by a wildly forward-thinking personality, unveiling something undeniably timeless.






    STAFF COMMENTS

    Matt says: Techno's current poster boy continues to fire on all cylinders for what has become his spiritual home - Steel City Dance Discs. The Newcastle (Australia) label has also rightfully become somewhat of a flag bearer for the modern scene. With records like this it's easy to get the hype...

    TRACK LISTING

    A1. Fly Away XTC 
    A2. Fly Away XTC (G-Town Mix) 
    A3. 1997 
    B1. Feeling Emotions 
    B2. Found My Angel 
    B3. Fallen Angel 

    Decisive Pink (Kate NV + Angel Deradoorian)

    Ticket To Fame

      Angel Deradoorian and Kate NV are Decisive Pink - Ticket To Fame is their highly anticipated debut. After teasing the single ‘Haffmilch Holiday’ the duo amassed a rapturous response, with The Guardian calling it “a space-age-dancefloor swoon that brings to mind Kate Bush’s Waking the Witch” and the New York Times highlighting the single as “substantive and thoroughly hypnotic”. On their first LP they do not disappoint, calling on Kate NV’s experimental pop leanings and Angel Deradoorian’s taste for atmosphere and otherworldliness, Decisive Pink have created a playful and abstract album designed for escape and enchantment.

      Electronic pop at it’s finest, the debut points to the fact that life is a puzzle, but you can still get a lot from living it. ‘Destiny’ is a smart take on the nature of belief, built on a question-and-answer format, where Angel plays a role as the seer, and Kate the enquirer. The poppy beat is reminiscent of Talking Heads’ ‘The Great Curve’, from Remain in Light. There again, it could be a sinister take on Will Powers’ ‘Kissing with Confidence’. The synth squeaks, squelches and toots sound like the timid affirmation of the initiate.

      Ticket to Fame is also unashamedly romantic in atmosphere and tone. Romance is to be found in the simple pleasures, such as listening to a blackbird on the instrumental ‘Rodeo’, where warm synths, a melancholic guitar pattern and hissing rhythm combine with some vocal snippets to form a soothing contemplation. Then there is ‘Ode to Boy’; a perfect pop track. The walking into the room of “more than just an ordinary boy” (doubtless “drunk with fire”) allows a set of initially different, and shortened synth patterns to build to a glorious affirmation of the power of love.

      TRACK LISTING

      Side A
      A1 Haffmilch Holiday
      A2 What Where
      A3 Ode To Boy
      A4 Destiny
      A5 Potato Tomato
      Side B
      B1 Cosmic Dancer
      B2 Rodeo
      B3 Interludé
      B4 Dopamine
      B5 Voice Message

      Charli XCX

      True Romance - Original Angel Repress

        Charli XCX’s debut studio album, True Romance, reaches its milestone 10 year anniversary on 12th April 2023. To celebrate we have repressed True Romance on coloured silver vinyl. The album features the singles ‘You (Ha Ha Ha)’ and ‘Nuclear Seasons’.

        As the last decade has unfolded, Charli XCX has only become more prolific, both as a performing and songwriter. This is particularly evident by the success of her most recent studio album, CRASH.

        TRACK LISTING

        Side 1
        Nuclear Seasons
        You (Ha Ha Ha)
        Take My Hand
        Stay Away
        Set Me Free
        Grins
        Side 2
        So Far Away
        Cloud Aura
        What I Like
        Black Roses
        You're The One
        How Can I
        Lock You Up

        Gong

        Angel's Egg (RSD23 EDITION)

          THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

          50th Anniversary - Abbey Road Half Speed Master by Miles Showell cut using the 2018 96k24bit files.
          The 180gram black vinyl is housed in a gatefold sleeve and comes complete with a replica of the original 16-page “Blue Book” of lyrics and drawings plus an Abbey Road Certificate and Obi.
          Recorded in August 1973 at Pavillon Du Hay, Sens, France on the Manor Mobile (24 Track)
          Produced by Gong and Simon Heyworth
          Engineered by Simon Hayworth
          Remastered in 2018 from the original Virgin analogue masters by Simon Heyworth
          Released on Virgin Records in 1973, ‘Angel’s Egg’ was Gong’s 4th album and 2nd in their ‘Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy’.
          It features Gilli Smyth aka Shakti Yoni on vocals / ‘Space Whisper’ and was the first Gong album to feature Steve Hillage as a full-time band member.
          Contains such fan favourites as “Other Side of The Sky”, “Flute Salad”, Oily Way” and “I Never Glid Before”.
          Line Up & Down:
          Gilli Smyth aka Shalti Yoni: Vocals ( Spacewhispers)
          Daevid Allen aka Dingo Virgin: Guitar, Vocals
          Steve Hillage aka Submarine Captain Hillage: Guitars
          Mike Howlett aka T. Being esq: Bass
          Tim Blake aka Hi T. Moonweed: Synthesizer, Vocals
          Didier Malherbe aka Bloomdido Bad de Grass: Flute, Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Sax, Backing Vocals
          Mirielle Bauer aka Mirielle de Strasbourg: Glockenspiel
          Pierre Moerlen aka Pierre de Strasbourg: Drums, Marimba, Vibraphone


          TRACK LISTING

          SIDE A
          01: Other Side Of The Sky (7:32)
          02: Sold To The Highest Buddha ( 4:27)
          03: Castle In The Clouds (1:13) 
          04: Prostitute Poem (4:52) 
          05: Givin’ My Luv To You (0:47)
          06: Selene (3:38)
          SIDE B
          01: Flute Salad (2:09)
          02: Oily Way (3:37)
          03: Outer Temple (1:09)
          04: Inner Temple (2:34)
          05: Percolations (0:46)
          06: Love Is How Y Make It (3:28)
          07: I NEVER Glid Before (5:37)
          08: Eat That Phone Book Coda (3:09)

          Angel Olsen

          Forever Means

            'Big Time' brought Angel Olsen to a deeper, truer sense of self than ever before. Borne from the twin stars of grief and love, the album delivered beautiful sense of certainty, the sure-footed sound of an artist fully, finally at home with herself. But within that wisdom comes the realization that there is no finish line, no destination or static end point to life while you’re living it, and Forever Means collects songs from the Big Time sessions that hold this common theme. They are, in Olsen’s words, “in search of something else.”

            “I was somewhere traveling,” says Olsen, “stopped for a few days and wandering the city, and I was thinking ‘what does ‘forever’ really mean? What are the things I’m seeking in friendship or love, and how can ‘forever’ be attainable if we’re always changing?’” Sitting with the reality of that entropy, Olsen realized “maybe the secret to ongoing love is to embrace change as part of love itself, that forever must have something to do with playing, looking, constantly searching things out for yourself, never letting yourself think you’re finished learning or exploring.” ‘Forever’”, says Olsen, “remains curious while trying also to be kind and honest.”

            All this packs into the four precious songs that comprise Forever Means, songs from Olsen’s roads traveled and the ones ahead. “Nothing’s free / like breaking free” Olsen sings, comfortable with the costs of her clarity, her heart and voice fixed on the present, the future, the not-yet-known and the beautifully unknowable.

            TRACK LISTING

            SIDE A:
            1) Nothing’s Free
            2) Forever Means

            SIDE B:
            3) Time Bandits
            4) Holding On

            Angel Bat Dawid

            Requiem For Jazz

              Requiem for Jazz is a 12-movement suite composed and arranged by Angel Bat Dawid, inspired in part by dialogue from Edward O. Bland’s 1959 film “The Cry of Jazz.”

              The original form of the music was premiered at the 2019 edition of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in Chicago, where Angel conducted a multigenerational fifteen-piece instrumental ensemble (all Black musicians from Chicago’s creative music community) alongside a four- person choir (featuring singers from Black Monument Ensemble), dancers, and visual artists in performance.

              Angel mixed and post-produced recordings from the performance – adding interludes, vocals and additional sounds, as well as transcribing a piece from “The Cry of Jazz” film. The final movement of Requiem for Jazz features Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott of the Sun Ra Arkestra. Their contributions were recorded remotely at the historic Arkestral Institute of Sun Ra in Philadelphia in late 2020.

              The final Requiem for Jazz work in album form is an immersive 24-track, double LP experience. The physical package is a deluxe, heavyweight gatefold jacket with liner notes by South African writer Nombuso Mathibela, artwork by Damon Locks, and a large fold out poster designed by Jeremiah Chiu, featuring poetry written by Angel Bat Dawid in dedication to all of her collaborators on the project. Additionally, there is a limited Thy Kingdom Come purple color vinyl edition of Requiem for Jazz available for the first pressing only.

              TRACK LISTING

              1. Jazz Is Merely The Negroes Cry Of Joy & Suffering
              2. INTROIT- Joy N’ Suff’rin
              3. Jazz Is The Musical Expression Of The Triumph Of The Negroes Spirit
              4. KYRIE ELEISON- Lawd Hav’ Merci
              5. This Endless Repetition Is Like A Chain Around The Spirit. And Is A Reflection Of The Denial Of A Future To The Negro In The American Way Of Life
              6. DIAS IRE- Chain Around The Spirit
              7. Another Restraining Factor In Jazz Are The Changes
              8. TUBA MIRUM- The Changes
              9. The Negro Experiences The Endless Daily Humiliation Of American Life Which Bequeaths Him A Futureless Future
              10. REX TREMENDAE –Futureless Future
              11. The Negro Transforms America’s Image Of Him Into A Transport Of Joy!
              12. RECORDARE-Recall The Joy
              13. Jazz Reflects The Improvised Life Thrust Upon The Negro
              14. CONFUTATIS-Repression
              15. Through Spirituals, Through The Blues, Then Through Jazz We Made A Memory Of Our Past And A Promise Of All To Come
              16. LACRIMOSA- Weeping Our Lady Of Sorrow
              17. Because Jazz Is The One Element In American Life Where Whites Must Be Humble To The Negro
              18. OFFERTURIUM-HOSTIAS-Humility
              19. Only When Whites Have Paid The Price In Suffering To Be The Negroes Equal
              20. SANCTUS- Holy, Holy, Holy
              21. The Jazz Body Is Dead But The Spirit Of Jazz Is Alive
              22. AGNUS DEI-Jazz Is Dead!
              23. LUX AETERNA-Eternal Light (Angel Bat Dawid) -The Cry Of Jazz (Sun Ra)
              24. Long Tone For Rayna Golding (A Binti Zawadi Our Future)

              Hamish Hawk

              Angel Numbers

                Angel numbers: a series of recurring numerical patterns or sequences which those who believe in such things invest with cosmic significance.

                Also, the name of the forthcoming album by Hamish Hawk – an apt title for an artist who bounces between scepticism and wonder, who alchemises the quotidian, who is engaged in a constant quest to outwit and outflank the ordinary. With the release of Heavy Elevator in September 2021, Edinburgh-based Hawk established himself as a writer of heartfelt, headstrong, unashamedly literate songs to stimulate both pulse and psyche. Heavy Elevator offered words to savour and tunes to relish. The songs were filmic and romantic, blending wit, wisdom, resignation and beauty with a kind of sceptical joie de vivre, delivered in a rich baritone that has drawn comparisons to everyone from Jarvis Cocker to Scott Walker. A singer of style and guile peddling accessible intelligence: what’s not to love? Heavy Elevator established a powerful artistic imprimatur which nonetheless felt neither defining nor confining. While the album has been justly lauded, Hawk’s next steps have moved the story considerably further forward. Angel Numbers meets growing expectations head on, with panache and aplomb.

                STAFF COMMENTS

                Barry says: A roaring mix of cleverly written rock music, with jagged melodies and gritty distortion tempered with rich production and Hamish's wonderfully emotive vocal stylings. 'Angel Numbers' is great fun, beautifully written and well worth a listen.

                Laura says: Without doubt one of the most extraordinary musical talents to emerge in the last few years. His song writing takes in everything from chamber-pop to post-punk, with smatterings of country and indie-pop. The guitars jangle, twang and shimmer, interwoven with keys and occasional strings, providing the perfect backdrop for his witty, evocative lyrics. I enjoyed his debut, Heavy Elevator, but this album has blown me away - one of my albums of the year for sure!

                TRACK LISTING

                1. Once Upon An Acid Glance
                2. Think Of Us Kissing
                3. Elvis Lookalike Shadows
                4. Bridget St. John
                5. Frontman Ft. Anna B Savage
                6. Desperately
                7. Bill
                8. Angel Numbers
                9. Money
                10. Dog-eared August
                11. Rest And Veneers Ft. Samantha Crain
                12. Grey Seals

                Deliluh

                Fault Lines

                  Learning about what Deliluh has been through these past two years brought the commands on a cassette player to mind: press rewind, forward, play and eject. The band, now a duo of Kyle Knapp and Julius Pedersen, relocated to Europe from their Toronto base with the ambition to plug into a continent that felt more cohesive in terms of a gig circuit and to map new spaces, both terrestrial and spiritual. This bold move came with a number of adjustments.The first was a new touring line-up, following the decision of Erika Wharton-Shukster and Erik Jude to stay in Canada. The second was dealing with the cosmic headfuck of a deadly global pandemic that put a stop to most things outside of staying alive. Looking back, Kyle Knapp sees the process as “somewhat of a crash course in survival and keeping calm. Overall it's taught us a lot about what we want to accomplish, both in the present and the long term.”

                  The new record, Fault Lines, is the result. Knapp sees the record as reflecting the duo’s “growth away from documenting the spaces in our native Toronto, to going out and experiencing new worlds and communities, something which has allowed us to look further inward.” Transmitting and receiving, then. This duality is expressed through the album’s incredibly spacious and clear sound and a series of what sound like intense sermons, or internal monologues that rail against the injustices of this world. The songs introduce characters who grapple with values that are pitted against the expectations around them. Knapp talks of a guilt-ridden preacher in the song Credence who, in a struggle to keep his church afloat, turns to unethical dealings with dubious people. All the tracks “reveal biases that are challenged by external realities” in different ways, for better and for worse. And yet these characters keep on kicking against the pricks: even if the narrator in Body and Soul shakes his fist at what feels like a relentlessly grim future. “Don’t say the sun still rises to light my way”.

                  Fault Lines is also a European record in its making. It first took shape at a session in Copenhagen in January 2019 where the band, still a four piece, recorded the beds before heading out on tour. The plan was to take a post-tour break and track some ideas that could be worked on remotely until everyone got back together in the early summer. Then everything “kind of went sideways”. Fault Lines stayed in an embryonic state for more than half a year, during which Deliluh reconfigured as a two piece. The lockdowns did, however, provide the time to rework material, or reposition ideas in line with the circumstances the pair found themselves in. Julius Pedersen: “We did a lot of heavy lifting at home together in Berlin and Marseille, taking turns training back and forth, throwing shit at the wall and experimenting.”

                  Fault Lines is tough and powerful sounding: a survivor’s record. At times these sparse tracks sound full of menace, at other moments, as in X-Neighbourhood and the soundtracked poem, Mirror of Hope, a sense of remorse. Repetition plays a key role: the band “initially wanted the record to sound circular. (But) repetition and allowing things to breathe was important to these songs, not only to create tension, but to give significance to moments of change when they do occur.” The single Amulet is a mesmeric example of this; where a revolving pattern of notes sketches out a melody which irrigates the brooding, parched vocal line. The circular nature of the music can also trigger a feeling of otherworldliness, as heard on the hypnotic Syndicate II. The track is driven by a simple metallic riff and a caustic vocal line that maybe channels the ghost of an old singer… Regardless it operates in an interzone of its own making.

                  After all this upheaval, does Deliluh still dream of going to another place? Are places different and do they really have a bearing on the creative path? “There's always another place calling from beyond. Without it we would be stuck and hopeless.

                  TRACK LISTING

                  Side A
                  A1 Memorial
                  A2 Body And Soul
                  A3 Credence (Ash In The Winds Of Reason)
                  A4 Amulet
                  Side B
                  B1 X-Neighbourhood
                  B2 Syndicate II
                  B3 Mirror Of Hope

                  Fresh grief, like fresh love, has a way of sharpening our vision and bringing on painful clarifications. No matter how temporary we know these states to be, the vulnerability and transformation they demand can overpower the strongest among us. Then there are the rare, fertile moments when both occur, when mourning and limerence heighten, complicate and explain each other; the songs that comprise Angel Olsen’s Big Time were forged in such a whiplash.

                  Big Time is an album about the expansive power of new love, but this brightness and optimism is tempered by a profound and layered sense of loss. During Olsen’s process of coming to terms with her queerness and confronting the traumas that had been keeping her from fully accepting herself, she felt it was time to come out to her parents, a hurdle she’d been avoiding for some time. “Finally, at the ripe age of 34, I was free to be me,” she said. Three days later, her father died and shortly after her mother passed away.

                  The shards of this grief—the shortening of her chance to finally be seen more fully by her parents— are scattered throughout the album. Three weeks after her mother’s funeral she was in the studio, recording this incredibly wise and tender new album. Loss has long been a subject of Olsen’s elegiac songs, but few can write elegies with quite the reckless energy as she.

                  If that bursting-at-the-seams, running downhill energy has come to seem intractable to her work, this album proves Olsen is now writing from a more rooted place of clarity. She’s working with an elastic, expansive mastery of her voice—both sonically and artistically. These are songs not just about transformational mourning, but of finding freedom and joy in the privations as they come.

                  STAFF COMMENTS

                  Barry says: Angel Olsen has always had a unique skill in writing melodies, but it's here on the heartbreaking 'Big Time' that her command of melody and atmosphere come together into the perfect whole. It's beautiful and sombre in parts, and downright jubilant in others. Beautifully balanced and achingly affectionate and tender.

                  TRACK LISTING

                  1. All The Good Times
                  2. Big Time
                  3. Dream Thing
                  4. Ghost On
                  5. All The Flowers
                  6. Right Now
                  7. This Is How It Works
                  8. Go Home
                  9. Through The Fires
                  10. Chasing The Sun

                  The Clash & Ranking Roger

                  Rock The Casbah / Red Angel Dragnet - 2022 Reissue

                    The Clash’s collaborations with the late Ranking Roger receive their first ever official release with this two-track black 7” limited edition vinyl. It finds the legendary frontman of The Beat infusing ‘Red Angel Dragnet’ and ‘Rock The Casbah’ with his exuberant, high-energy toasting.

                    Gang Of Youths

                    Angel In Realtime.

                      Gang of Youths say, “the album is about the life and legacy of Dave's father, indigenous identity, death, grief and God. And also the Angel, Islington.”

                      Despite and indeed because of frontman Dave Le’aupepe’s father’s absence, his influence permeates every talking point that the album offers. At times it’s solely focused upon the precise, personal experiences of loss: the dichotomy of intensity and peace that comes as someone passes through their final days; the overwhelming feeling in the wake of their death that life will never be the same, even if the rest of the world at large remains utterly unchanged.

                      Following their recent singles, ‘the angel of 8th ave.’ , telling of falling in love in a new city and making a home in another, and ‘the man himself’, a song created around a sample recording from the island of Mangaia in the Cook Islands that is about living without the guiding hand of your own father, today they release ‘tend the garden’.

                      Although the album is eclectic - influences range from American minimalism and contemporary classical, to drawing upon the legacy of Britain’s alternative/indie scenes, from drum ‘n’ bass to the most transcendent moments of Britpop -- it’s equally rooted in Le’aupepe’s Samoan heritage, with the majority of tracks featuring samples from David Fanshawe’s recordings of indigenous music from the Polynesian islands and the wider South Pacific. ‘angel in realtime’ also features contributions from a cast of talented Pasifika and Māori vocalists and instrumentalists.

                      Le’aupepe says, “I hope the record stands as a monument to the man my father was and remains long after I’m gone myself. He deserved it.”

                      TRACK LISTING

                      1 You In Everything
                      2 In The Wake Of Your Leave
                      3 The Angel Of 8th Ave.
                      4 Returner
                      5 Unison
                      6 Tend The Garden
                      7 The Kingdom Is Within You
                      8 Spirit Boy
                      9 Brothers
                      10 Forbearance
                      11 The Man Himself
                      12 Hand Of God
                      13 Goal Of The Century

                      Bobby Krlic

                      The Alienist: Angel Of Darkness (Soundtrack)

                        The album features music by Ivor Novello Awardwinning composer Bobby Krlic (The Haxan Cloak). The album is pressed on blue vinyl, with a deluxe spined sleeve with deboss artwork and the vinyl itself housed in its own double sided inner sleeve. Digital download card included. Bobby Krlic is an award-winning British artist, composer and music producer based in Los Angeles. Over the past decade, Krlic has created music under the The Haxan Cloak, releasing two critically acclaimed full-length albums (2011’s ‘The Haxan Cloak’ and 2013’s ‘Excavation’) and touring extensively as a solo artist building a devout fanbase. As a producer, Krlic has worked with artists including Björk, Khalid, Troye Sivan, Goldfrapp, serpentwithfeet, The Body and noise-rock band HEALTH. Krlic scored Ari Aster’s 2019 horror film ‘Midsommar’, earning him an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score. Last year, he made new music for ‘Red Dead Online’ and also co-produced Father John Misty’s ‘To S.’ and ‘To R.’. An unflinching, gripping, turn-of-the-century murder mystery that traverses both New York’s wealthy elite and the struggling underbelly of the city’s ‘Gilded Age’, ‘The Alienist’ follows Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl), a brilliant and obsessive ‘alienist’ in the controversial new field of treating mental pathologies.

                        TRACK LISTING

                        A1. Lying Inn Hospital
                        A2. Lucius & Byrnes In The Lab
                        A3. Hypnosis
                        A4. Osgood & Helen
                        A5. Fever Dream Dance
                        B1. Water Torture
                        B2. More Deaths
                        B3. Police Dead, Clara Gone
                        B4. Poor Marcus
                        B5. Angel Of Darkness

                        Angel Olsen

                        Aisles

                          While spending time trying to conquer the audio of live-stream athome performances, I got better acquainted with my friend Adam McDaniel, an engineer and producer in Asheville, NC. Adam and I had known each other for years. When the band was a bit smaller I’d often rent his studio, Drop of Sun, for pre-recording / pre tour rehearsals. Summer 2020 was tough for many reasons. But Adam and his wife Emily opened their home to me and made it a safe space to create and let go. I had an idea to record some covers and bring some of the band into the mix, or add other players. I wanted to record 80’s songs that I’d overheard walking the aisles at the grocery store, and I needed to laugh and have fun and be a little less serious about the recording process in general. I thought about completely changing some of the songs and turning them inside out.

                          I’d heard “Gloria” by Laura Branigan for the first time at a family Christmas gathering and I was amazed at all the aunts who got up to dance. I imagined them all dancing and laughing in slow motion, and that’s when I got the idea to slow the entire song down and try it out in this way. I felt that “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats could be reinterpreted to be about this time of quarantine and the fear of being around anyone or having too much fun. It made me wonder, is it safe to laugh or dance or be free of it all for just a moment?

                          I know it’s not really in my history to do something unintentional or just for the hell of it but my connection to these songs is pretty straightforward, I just wanted to have a little fun and be a little more spontaneous, and I think I needed to remember that I could!

                          STAFF COMMENTS

                          Barry says: It's Angel's turn on the 80's tip this time, with her voice perfectly fitting the melancholic swell of synths and slo-mo takes on these well recognised classics. There's just enough here to recognise the originals, but with Olsen's wonderfully athletic vocals and inventive production they take on a new life entirely.

                          TRACK LISTING

                          1. Gloria
                          2. Eyes Without A Face
                          3. Safety Dance
                          4. If You Leave
                          5. Forever Young

                          Deliluh

                          Amulet

                            In September of 2019, Deliluh took flight with sights set on new horizons. A long plotted scheme to uproot the group from their Toronto home and airlift them into the touring bastion of Europe seemed like a pot worth gambling their stack on. Their future in the old world was read with wide-eyed optimism, emboldened by two albums newly waxed and tour dates rolling in. Greener pastures with foreign allure, a promised land chalk full of experimental art and sound, and a plethora of unconventional venues ripe for the picking... it’s open season, what could possibly go wrong?
                            Well, the best-laid plans…

                            Amulet is the first release since Deliluh’s departure from home, an opening document of the group’s transition abroad. Mirrored images of the same composition occupy each side; ‘A’ performed by their previous four-piece lineup, and ‘B’ by the current active two-piece. The lyrics depict a jewel thief committing crimes with the conviction of a merciless zealot, and justifying them with a spite for the status quo. The protagonist amuses with the threat of being “caught”, a fate seemingly imminent and yet laughable in the crooked context of societal greed. Knapp delivers sharp criticisms with a swagger liberated of fear, imploring us all to root for the anti-hero in a time when danger is craved en masse.

                            The tonal contrasts between both versions testify to the group’s versatility. The A side pulls tension by way of minimalism, leaning into a sinister synth sequence that navigates a pitch dark sonic terrain. Swooning guitar, plucking violin, whispering synths and darting tape effects peek in and out of the periphery, circling with unsettled starkness around Jude’s gloomy bass drone, through until Wharton-Shukster’s string soaring climax.

                            Flip to the B side, and the immediate motorik groove turns the sequence on it’s head, snapping to a gritty dance track for nights long yearned for. Pedersen’s modular synth takes on a fresh persona of dusted drums and otherworldly high hats, cracking on the beat while guitar scratches, processed sax, and string synths build with harmonic euphoria, all until the tape slips and pulls the rug from under the DIY dance floor.

                            Amulet demonstrates Deliluh’s potential growing fearlessly in the face of a tight game. They promise a plentiful stash of recordings soon to be unearthed, giving the sense that their recently tested process of creation has been far from hindered. What comes next is anyones guess, though Amulet at the very least reassures that we’re still, as always, in trusted hands. 

                            STAFF COMMENTS

                            Patrick says: Bleak, cold atmospheres and ambience which seems miles out of place on a warm Summer's afternoon but which will grow more and more appropriate as Winter's tight grip quickly edges in...

                            TRACK LISTING

                            1. Amulet A
                            2. Amulet B

                            Morton Valence

                            Black Angel Drifter

                              The purveyors of 'Urban Country", Morton Valence release their dark 7th album on legendary UK label Cow Pie, established in 1978 by BJ Cole. ’Black Angel Drifter’ is an album of unorthodox ’country’ music and unlike anything you’ve heard before. This, the seventh studio offering from Urban Country duo Morton Valence (Anne Gilpin and Robert ‘Hacker’ Jessett), started life as their experimental side-project back in 2016. Notwithstanding more recent events, 2016 was quite a year, and whilst the band were preoccupied with other ventures Black Angel Drifter would bide its time. Fast forward to 2020 - a year that will unquestionably go down in the annals of history - and ‘Black Angel Drifter’s extraordinary sentiment could not resonate louder.

                              Legendary UK country label Cow Pie Ltd’s - established in 1978 by BJ Cole and Hank Wangford - sensibilities were especially tweaked and they were convinced it was time this spectacular album finally got the airing it has always deserved, remastered and repackaged for a new era. The album features ten tracks. From the explosive intro of ‘Skylines Change / Genders Blur’, coming at you like the illegitimate lovechild of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Ennio Morricone, to the down-at-heel ‘Black-Eyed Susan’, replete with sweaty priest and bullwhips, Morton Valence also flirt with the blues on ‘Sister Pain’, deliver sorrowful, divine love songs like ‘The Visit’ & ’Hymn Four’ and breathe fresh discordant life into the late 80s Bob Dylan classic, ‘The Man with the Long Black Coat’. As antithesis to a no regrets-type torch song, ‘If I Could Start Again’, where a man recounts his misspent life from a prison cell, could have been penned by Merle Haggard. The unrelenting ‘Trail of Tears’ is more akin to late-70’s Martin Rev robotics than anything ever created on a guitar. Alongside Gilpin and Hacker, Alan Cook’s sublime pedal steel guitar is omnipresent throughout the album. ‘Black Angel Drifter’ is an alt-country album that puts the rulebook through the shredder and starts again, set to put Urban Country on the map and give UK Alt-country an authentic new voice of its own, a voice that is genuinely original, new and exciting

                              TRACK LISTING

                              01 Skylines Change
                              02 Black Eyed Susan
                              03 Sister Pain 04 The Visit
                              05 The Man In The Long Black Coat
                              06 If I Could Start Again
                              07 Trail Of Tears
                              08 Lead On
                              09 Hymn
                              10 Crickets 8am

                              Pauline Anna Strom

                              Angel Tears In Sunlight

                                Angel Tears in Sunlight is Pauline Anna Strom’s first album in over thirty years; an assemblage of music that refracts the expansiveness, and minutiae, of imagined realms while embracing the kaleidoscopic echoes of our distant epochs. The capacity to collapse time might elucidate the enigma of Pauline Anna Strom. A mystic force in music, emerging during the dawn of new age as the Trans-Millenia Consort, the pioneering synthesist channelled primordial energies into future-facing sound through a series of full-length releases between 1982 and 1988.

                                Little was known about her, except by a constellation of devoted followers who saw a unique legacy forming amidst the (mostly male) synthesist canon of the time. Following the 2017 release of Trans-Millenia Music, an anthology revitalizing the most evocative parts of Strom’s catalog, the Bay Area visionary sensed the universe telling her to return to music. As with her work in the 80s, Angel Tears in Sunlight was composed and recorded in the same San Francisco apartment where Strom has lived for almost four decades in synthesis with her machines and “dinosaurs.” Populated by a compact array of modern instruments that streamline the sound of her analog past and her beloved iguanas, Little Soulstice and Ms Huff, the terrarium of her home forms an intimate yet limitless ecosystem that defies the constraints of the outside world. Within this sanctuary, Strom becomes lost in time, drawing on the ancient energies of her inner visions. Her hardware forms the crux of translating these ideas into sound. “It’s the only way this stuff can be pulled out of myself, the universe, Little Soulstice, an ammonite…,” Strom notes. “It couldn’t be done without this machinery, because there’s no other way to draw and capture these frequencies into sonic interpretation.” Strom’s process of recording transient live-takes enriches the mystery of her work. She renders the machinery a composer itself, a cohabitation with a living other. “Many musicians wouldn’t go that far because of ego,” Strom muses. “The equipment has to become part of you and your creativity.

                                That’s how I think it all comes together.” Music-making becomes a harmonic language of intuition with an instrument, where Strom cultivates sound for a harvest that defies season. Shaped by circadian contours, Angel Tears in Sunlight is a celestial observatory of earthborn phonic mosaics. Strom uncovers a symbiosis between hardware frequencies and apparitions of nature in the record’s arena of organic tones, emulating the melodic pulses of primeval terrain. The album transcends both shadow and light, falling to hushed stretches of sound as if not to awaken antediluvian animals, before soaring through the treetops where ancient skies peer over reptilian traffic and unsparing rains. Where Angel Tears in Sunlight opens a new passage in the transportive power of Strom’s work, the synthesist also nurtures space for restorative listening. During her absence from composing, Strom turned to a practice of spiritual healing, which she recognizes to have deepened her understanding of music as “the connective link between the source and us.” Dedicating the album to her dear friend John Jennings who passed away during the making of Angel Tears in Sunlight, Strom titled the work to reflect the summation of processing life and loss, collapsed together in an eternal spectrum. “Sunlight represents what we’re coming into.

                                TRACK LISTING

                                LP
                                A1. Tropical Convergence
                                A2. Marking Time
                                A3. I Still Hope
                                A4. Temple Gardens At Midnight
                                A5. The Pulsation
                                B1. The Eighteen Beautiful Memories
                                B2. Equatorial Sunrise
                                B3. Small Reptiles On The Forest Floor
                                B4. Tropical Rainforest

                                CD
                                1. Tropical Convergence
                                2. Marking Time
                                3. I Still Hope
                                4. Temple Gardens At Midnight
                                5. The Pulsation
                                6. The Eighteen Beautiful Memories
                                7. Equatorial Sunrise
                                8. Small Reptiles On The Forest Floor
                                9. Tropical Rainforest
                                10. Words In Motion (Bonus Track)

                                Angel Olsen

                                Whole New Mess

                                  The time had come, Angel Olsen realized in the fading summer of 2018, to take her new songs out of the house. Olsen's 2016 marvel, My Woman, had been a career breakthrough, but it catalyzed a period of personal tumult, too: a painful breakup, an uneasy recovery, an inadequate reckoning. At home in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, Olsen penned songs that finally grappled with these troubles, particularly love:"how forever is too much to promise, how relationships can lock us into static versions of ourselves, how you can go through hell just to make someone else happy. These heartsore explorations shape Whole New Mess, Olsen's first solo album since her 2012 debut and an emotional portrait so intimate and vulnerable you can hear her find meaning in these crises in real-time.

                                  At least nine of the eleven songs on Whole New Mess should sound familiar to anyone who has heard All Mirrors, Olsen's grand 2019 masterpiece that earned high honors on prestigious year-end lists and glossy spreads in stylish magazines. "Lark," "Summer," "Chance" - they are all here, at least in some skeletal form and with slightly different titles. But these are not the demos for All Mirrors. Instead, Whole New Mess is its own record with its own immovable mood, with Olsen working through her open wounds and raw nerves with just a few guitars and some microphones, isolated in a century-old church in the Pacific Northwest. If the lavish orchestral arrangements and cinematic scope of All Mirrors are the sound of Olsen preparing her scars for the wider world to see, Whole New Mess is the sound of her first figuring out their shape, making sense for herself of these injuries.

                                  Considered alongside All Mirrors, Whole New Mess is a poignant and pointed reminder that songs are more than mere collections of words, chords, and even melodies. They are webs of moods and moments and ideas, qualities that can change from one month to the next and can say just as much as the perfect progression or an exquisite chord. In that sense, these 11 songs - "solitary, frank, and unflinching examinations of what it's like to love, lose, and survive -" are entirely new. This is the sound of Angel Olsen, sorting through the kind of trouble we've all known, as if just for herself and whoever else needs it.

                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  Barry says: 'Whole New Mess' isn't as much different versions of the same songs as it is a retelling of the entire context they were given in. Beautifully raw at times, and even more poignant than the already mindblowing 'All Mirrors', if that was the story, this is the equal and opposite other side of the story. An absolutely necessary listen.

                                  TRACK LISTING

                                  Whole New Mess
                                  Too Easy (bigger Than Us)
                                  (new Love) Cassette
                                  (we Are All Mirrors)
                                  (summer Song)
                                  Waiving, Smiling
                                  Tonight (without You)
                                  Lark Song
                                  Impasse (workin’ For The Name)
                                  Chance (forever Love)
                                  What It Is (what It Is)

                                  The descent into darkness is a trope we find time again across history, literature and film. But there’s also an abyss above. There’s a winding white staircase that goes ever upward into the great unknown — each step, each turn, requiring a greater boldness and confidence than the one before. This is the journey on which we find Angel Olsen.

                                  Olsen’s artistic beginnings as a collaborator shifted seamlessly to her magnificent, cryptic-to-cosmic solo work, and then she formed bands to play her songs, and her stages and audiences grew exponentially. But all along, Olsen was more concerned with a different kind of path, and on her vulnerable, Big Mood new album, All Mirrors, we can see her taking an introspective deep dive towards internal destinations and revelations. In the process of making this album, she found a new sound and voice, a blast of fury mixed with hard won self-acceptance.

                                  “In every way —from the making of it, to the words, to how I feel moving forward— this record is about owning up to your darkest side,” Olsen said. “Finding the capacity for new love and trusting change, even when you feel like a stranger. This is a record about facing yourself and learning to forgive what you see. It is about losing empathy, trust, love for destructive people. It is about walking away from the noise and realizing that you can have solitude and peace in your own thoughts, that your thoughts alone can be just as valid, if not more.”

                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  Barry says: Swooning synth strokes, huge cavernous percussion and snappy mid-heavy bass form a fittingly retrophilic cushion for Olsen's always hypnotic voice, in this instance its commanding presence soars above the backdrop, both haunting and uplifting. 'All Mirrors' is a triumph.

                                  TRACK LISTING

                                  SIDE A
                                  1) Lark
                                  2) All Mirrors

                                  SIDE B
                                  3) Too Easy
                                  4) New Love Cassette
                                  5) Spring

                                  SIDE C
                                  6) What It Is
                                  7) Impasse
                                  8) Tonight

                                  SIDE D
                                  9) Summer
                                  10) Endgame
                                  11) Chance

                                  Blood Orange’s latest critically acclaimed mixtape, ‘Angel’s Pulse’. Released on the heels of Negro Swan, this album is the overflowing aftermath of that incredible album – the more Dev Hynes the better in my opinion.

                                  ‘Dark and Handsome’ encapsulates everything I love about Hynes’ music, those drops of recognizable Blood Orange trademarks which are so prominent throughout all his albums. Something that sets the album apart for me is the heartbreaking track ‘Birmingham’ which is referencing the church bombing in Alabama by white nationalists in 1963. Kelsey Lu and Ian Isiah vocals are incredibly emotive and cut through the soul.

                                  The album includes collaborations with Toro Y Moi, Kelsey Lu, Arca, Porches, Ian Isiah, Justine Skye and many more. The tracks are short in quick succession, it’s easy to glide through the album and want to hear it all over again for the parts you missed the first time around.


                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  Millie says: Dev Hynes bringing us this incredible mixtape, Angel’s Pulse filled with emotional, raw material. Blood Oranges distinct sound flows throughout with glimpses of his trademark echoes, the album flows seamlessly from start to finish but holds his most diverse mixture of songs to date. Absolutely love this and can’t wait for the next.

                                  TRACK LISTING

                                  I Wanna C U
                                  Something To Do
                                  Dark & Handsome Ft Toro Y Moi
                                  Benzo
                                  Birmingham Ft Kelsey Lu & Ian Isiah
                                  Good For You Ft Justine Skye
                                  Baby Florence (Figure)
                                  Gold Teeth Ft Project Pat, Gangsta Boo & Tinashe
                                  Berlin Ft Porches & Ian Isiah
                                  Tuesday Feeling (Choose To Stay) Ft Tinashe
                                  Seven Hours Part 1 Ft BennY RevivaL
                                  Take It Back Ft Arca, Joba & Justine Skye
                                  Happiness
                                  Today

                                  Molly Sarlé

                                  Karaoke Angel

                                    From the cliffs of Big Sur to the North Carolina backwoods - Molly Sarlé (one third of Mountain Man) brings open-hearted, unflinching songwriting perfect for late-night karaoke comedowns, plaintive morning walks and conjuring the spirit world. West Coast incantations with a warm, Appalachian glow.

                                    The work on ‘Karaoke Angel’ began in a trailer on a the pacific coast and continued with stints in Los Angeles and Durham, NC. Recorded in a church-turned-recording studio in Woodstock, NY with production by Sam Evian, a minimal but carefully assembled palette of guitar, bass and percussion form the foundation; an orchestra of unrecognizable atmospherics bounce off the high ceilings - but Molly’s delicate, expressive voice is always at the centre.

                                    For fans of Laura Marling, Lucy Dacus, Wye Oak, Big Thief, Angel Olsen, Phoebe Bridgers, Molly Burch, Jessica Pratt, Julia Holter, Joni Mitchell, Weyes Blood, Tiny Ruins, Aldous Harding, Cate Le Bon.

                                    TRACK LISTING

                                    Human
                                    This Close
                                    Karaoke Angel
                                    Almost Free
                                    Twisted
                                    Faith For Doubt
                                    Kimberly
                                    Dreams
                                    Suddenly
                                    Passenger Side

                                    Lunch Lady

                                    Angel

                                      LUNCH LADY are a sparky group from Los Angeles redolent of the desert heat, pining hearts and that chorus-soaked cloak of sound held dear by followers of British early 80s post-punk.

                                      Numbering four, Lunch Lady consist of Rachel Birke (vocals), Juan Velasquez (guitar), Victor Herrera (bass) and Robert Wolfe (drums). The band began in 2017 when Velasquez asked Birke if she’d like to start a new music project with him, their respective other groups Abe Vigoda and Heller Keller having co-existed in LA’s DIY orbit. Birke explains that they “immediately decided upon making the new band a kind of love letter to Kitsch.”

                                      Lunch Lady’s dreamy punk forays into country ballad territory certainly swoop into sentiment, but its the melancholy of artifice that defines their outlook. “I like the way Susan Sontag explains Kitsch as being something that lacks the context or materials to reach the effect it sets out to achieve. Also that tragic aspect of Kitsch, we loved the futility of how literal it is, we wanted to evoke that with our band name and definitely my lyrics” illuminates Birke further.

                                      Lunch Lady recruited friends Herrera and Wolfe into the rhythm section, swiftly recorded a demo and started playing live. The bands’ music began to grow into sun-warped vignettes, often miniaturist character-studies in outlook. These songs are studded with unquiet recollection, all delivered with a curious objectivity that pulls the listener into the circle. Birke’s vocal is unhurried and assured, pressing her characters’ motives and words into the sprightly guitar trails and jogged rhythms that characterise the sound of the band. During the summer of 2018, Lunch Lady had assembled the tracks for their debut album, which they took into the studio towards the year’s close. Lunch Lady’s debut album, ‘Angel’ was recorded at Gauchos Electronics, a key studio in the history of Los Angeles punk and the place where many of their peers had laid down albums previously, including Gun Outfit, Feels, Ty Segall and No Age. Pascal Stevenson produced the album, whilst Scott Cornish helped engineer and mix. Mikey Young then mastered this vibrant record.

                                      ‘Angel’ is an album of resounding yearning, of cold fire and hot, sticky blood. It’s an album of troubled tales, buried hearts and wandering homeward. Throughout, Birke’s narrative-heavy lyrics keep things themed and theatrical. This is most strongly felt on cinematic swirls of song like ‘Preacher Man’ and clicky, strummer ’Sweet One’. The stunning track ‘Dolores’ creeps and ranges around under a dark cloud of disclosure. Struck chords hang in the air like smoke whilst Birke intones “you say he’s a bad man, and a killer too, and you tell me like I don’t know.” Birke wrote those lyrics from the perspective of the female character in Eddie Noack's serial-killer C&W jaunt of the same name. The song rattles with craving, whilst the guitars wheel and loop, strident drums pinpointing. ‘Window’ whirls by with all the flourish of a card trick. Drums tumble whilst the guitar line twists through the taut stretch and sprint of the bass turns. Birke’s low-slung yet smouldering vocal confesses that “my hands are as clean as a remembered thing, my hands are as clean as I want them to be.”

                                      Thematically, Lunch Lady’s debut cascades with crumpled wishes and hotly recalled visions. Throughout writing the lyrics for the album Birke spells out that she’s “been trying to tackle my own feelings about nostalgia, especially that romanticisation of one’s own childhood. The album’s also about that painful feeling of looking at a family album and trying to reconcile yourself with the kid you see in the photograph. ‘My Dead Dog’ is about that and became one of my favourite songs on the album for that reason.” The album swims with a type of anxious nostalgia. Birke’s cover art of a flaming Cadillac falling through the sky is a case in point. “I never had a love like the love that I never had” sings a resigned Birke towards the summit of ‘My Dead Dog’. Whilst ’Preacher Man’ addresses the problem of nostalgia more on a cultural level, a host of avenging angels, sisters in white robes and gun-toting men crop up elsewhere via the cool detachment of time passed. You get the feeling that Lunch Lady prefer to face these dangers face on. They seem most at home staring down the uneasy. See the simmering clamour of ‘Young Bride’ and ‘Sister’ with its swooning bloom of melody for further evidence. This sense of fight or flight is keenly felt in ‘Snakes’ too. Herrera’s bassline nags at Wolfe’s beat, whilst Velasquez’s chiming guitar spills wistfully. “Cold sweat, smooth hands, hot blood. Your babes are crying, your life’s cast in iron now” evokes Birke in a sweetly hushed vocal as relaxed as casual conversation.

                                      Lunch Lady turn on all the lights in this haunted house of an album. Each room populated by a vividly drawn cast of whispered hopes and threatening dreams. ‘Angel’ is an album that murmurs like a river down the staircase, exploding with unexpected melodrama, brandishing it’s desire like a weapon. Let it take you by the hand and guide you out into the night. Out into the glimmer, before the stars go out and the warmth of the sun returns to cool passions.


                                      TRACK LISTING

                                      01. Angel
                                      02. Sweet One
                                      03. Sister
                                      04. Window
                                      05. Snakes
                                      06. My Dead Dog
                                      07. Pardon Me Miss
                                      08. Dolores
                                      09. Preacher Man
                                      10. Young Bride
                                      11. Deeper Variation
                                      12. Deeper

                                      Angel-Ho

                                      Death Becomes Her

                                      Angel-Ho is known as one of the founders of Non Worldwide, alongside Chino Amobi and Nkisi. Highly regarded as a DJ and electronic music producer, on ‘Death Becomes Her‘ she shifts things up to another level. Pulling on inspiration from her flamboyant favourites from Lady Gaga, Missy Elliot, and Bjork through to Kanye West, this ambitious, artful and sometimes radical album of neo-pop pushes the pop framework even further, often teetering on the brink of vertiginous chaos and dissonance, whilst slowly revealing its depth and grandeur once you settle into its sound world. Alongside a cast of collaborators that include French producer Nunu, South African producer Baby Caramel, Asmara Maroof from Nguzunguzu, Bon and Gaika, Angel re-orientates the usual trans-atlantic pop sound to encompass a brace of experimental, diasporic producers to create beats that alternate between angular, propulsive, murky, loose, abrasive and breezy.

                                      On top of these often advanced rhythms, she also raps and sings for the first time with lyrics about love, sex, glamour and struggle, universal fantasies, treated with an ambiguity that restructures the narrative within a trans-identity. Her choice of guest MCs also reflects this energetic queering with K-$ and Qweezy from Cape Town, plus underground Asian American rapper K-Rizz laying down assertive bars. On ‘Death Becomes Her’, Angel-Ho carves out a new space with her unique take on contemporary pop. Overflowing with charisma, sometimes reminiscent of Grace Jones, this album is fiercely sassy and celebratory. It feels like the start of something very exciting.

                                      TRACK LISTING

                                      A1. Business
                                      A2. Drama
                                      A3. Like A Girl Ft. K Rizz
                                      A4. Jacomina
                                      A5. Muse To You
                                      A6. Good Friday Daddy Ft. Queezy

                                      B1. Cupido
                                      B2. Live
                                      B3. Desity
                                      B4. Pose
                                      B5. Bussy
                                      B6. Baby Tee Ft. K-$
                                      B7. Like That
                                      B8. Parachute

                                      Angel Olsen

                                      Phases

                                        How does one best describe Angel Olsen? From the lo-fi, sparse folk-melancholy of her 2010 EP, ‘Strange Cacti’, to the electrified, polished rock ‘n’ roll bursting from 2016’s beloved and acclaimed ‘MY WOMAN’, Olsen has refused to succumb to a single genre, expectation or vision. Impossible to pin down, Olsen navigates the world with her remarkable, symphonic voice and a propensity for narrative, her music growing into whatever shape best fits to tell the story.

                                        ‘Phases is a collection of Olsen’s work culled from the past several years, including a number of never-before-released tracks. ‘Fly On Your Wall’, previously contributed to the online-only, anti-Trump fundraiser ‘Our First 100 Days’, opens ‘Phases’, before seamlessly slipping into ‘Special’, a brand new song from the ‘MY WOMAN’ recording sessions. Both ‘How Many Disasters’ and ‘Sans’ are first-time listens: home-recorded demos that have never been released, leaning heavily on Olsen’s arresting croon and lonesome guitar.

                                        The B-sides compilation is both a testament to Olsen’s enormous musical range and a tidy compilation of tracks that have previously been elusive in one way or another.

                                        Balancing tenacity and tenderness, ‘Phases’ acts as a deep-dive for longtime fans, as well as a fitting introduction to Olsen’s sprawling sonics for the uninitiated.

                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                        Barry says: 'Phases' provides the linking thread between the varying facets of Olsen's songwriting, with B-sides and unreleased odes, come a further understanding of Olsen's innate songwriting ability and how important even these previously unused pieces can be! Lovely stuff.

                                        TRACK LISTING

                                        1 Fly On Your Wall
                                        2 Special
                                        3 Only With You
                                        4 All Right Now
                                        5 Sans
                                        6 Sweet Dreams
                                        7 California
                                        8 Tougher Then The Rest
                                        9 For You
                                        10 How Many Disasters
                                        11 May As Well
                                        12 Endless Road

                                        Schwervon

                                        Blood Angel / Wrath Of Angels

                                          "Schwervon's music is so original, inspiring, and full of dark humour. I just love it!!" - Frances McKee (The Vaselines).

                                          "I'm not sure how just two people manage to make such a big sound!" - David Gedge (The Wedding Present/Cinerama).

                                          SCHWERVON! is a two piece American rock band. Nan plays drums. Matt plays guitar. They both sing. Their band name is a warped variation of an urban slang, meaning: "to do something well in one's own way or in a unique manner, usually involving members of the opposite sex."

                                          Their music is an expression of imperfect love through jagged rock minimalism. Schwervon have released six albums and four 7 inches. Their latest recording is a 7" out on Brokers Tip Records (a label run by Bob Nastanovich of Pavement, Silver Jews) It was recorded in Memphis, Tennessee with Doug Easley (Cat Power, Sonic Youth, Grifters).

                                          "Anyone reckless enough to have typecast Angel Olsen according to 2013’s Burn Your Fire For No Witness is in for a rethink with her third album, MY WOMAN. The crunchier, blown-out production of the former is gone, but that fire is now burning wilder. Her disarming, timeless voice is even more front-and-center. Yet, the strange, raw power and slowly unspooling incantations of her previous efforts remain.

                                          Over two previous albums, she gave us reverb-shrouded poetic swoons, shadowy folk, grunge-pop band workouts and haunting, finger-picked epics. MY WOMAN is an exhilarating complement to her past work, and one for which Olsen recalibrated her writing/recording approach and methods to enter a new music-making phase.

                                          As the record evolves, one gets the sense that the “My Woman” of the title is Olsen herself, absolutely in command but also willing to bend with the influence of collaborators and circumstances. An intuitively smart, warmly communicative and fearlessly generous record, MY WOMAN speaks to everyone. That it might confound expectation is just another of its strengths."

                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                          Barry says: Whether she is banging out swooning gothic eyeshadow-pop choruses or walking us through rural America with swinging slide-guitar laden finger-clickers, Angel Olsen constantly manages with aplomb. The Melancholy lilt in some parts only serves exacerbate the impact of her more driven passages. This isn't a cheery listen, but it is touching and masterful. Highly recommended.

                                          TRACK LISTING

                                          1 Intern
                                          2 Never Be Mine
                                          3 Shut Up Kiss Me
                                          4 Give It Up
                                          5 Not Gonna Kill You
                                          6 Heart Shaped Face
                                          7 Sister
                                          8 Those Were The Days
                                          9 Woman
                                          10 Pops

                                          Trembling Bells

                                          Who Call The Law? / Made For The May

                                            THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2016 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

                                            Trembling Bells we joined by Stevie "Reverb" Jackson (Belle and Sebastian) on this brand new recording exclusive for Record Store Day. It was recorded by "The Sovereign Self" engineer Luigi Pasquini.

                                            "Who Call The Law?" is an amorous crime caper written by maverick English songsmith, Dan Haywood. It examines the antagonisms that ensue when a relationship disintegrates and the big questions that we are left to face

                                            Received an 8.0 rating from Pitchfork!!!! After her highly-acclaimed debut Strange Cacti landed in the hands of listeners, it became very obvious the special presence Angel Olsen offered to listeners. She had a fresh edge to her sound, a warm and wonderful range, and a level of skill and charm out of this world. Obviously, fans ate it up. And now here we are, a mere 2 years since her initial Bathetic release—the original cassette version of Strange Cacti. The release of Half Way Home is something everyone has been excited for. We've always wanted to see and hear what Angel brings out through her music. Half Way Home is a continuation of her elegance brought forth.

                                            TRACK LISTING

                                            Acrobat
                                            The Waiting
                                            Safe In The Womb
                                            Lonely Universe
                                            Can't Wait Until Tomorrow
                                            Always Half Strange
                                            You Are Song
                                            Miranda
                                            The Sky Openend Up
                                            Free
                                            Tiniest Seed

                                            Faith No More

                                            Angel Dust

                                              In 1992, after an extensive period of touring, San Franciscan rockers Faith No More released Angel Dust. The album swings between extremes—aggressive and disturbing, but also beautiful and soothing—showing off every facet of the band’s quirky eloquence on such diverse tracks as “Midlife Crisis,” “Jizzlobber,” “R.V.” and “Small Victory.”

                                              Celebrating the classic albums that helped establish the band’s vital and visceral musical legacy Rhino Records releases a fantastic 2LP Deluxe Edition of Angel Dust. Featuring the original album and an additional disc packed full of rarities related to the album.

                                              Among the tracks featured on the bonus disc is a mix of “Midlife Crisis” by the band’s longtime producer Matt Wallace, a trio of live recordings from a concert in Munich, Germany, as well as covers of the Dead Kennedys’ “Let’s Lynch The Landlord” and the band’s unforgettable take on the Commodores’ “Easy.”

                                              Gram Parsons

                                              Grevious Angel - 180 Gram Vinyl Edition

                                                American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist Gram Parsons has been credited as being the pioneer of ‘country-rock’.

                                                Hot on the heels of 'GP' but released posthumously, 'Grievous Angel' followed pretty much the same blueprint as its predecessor. A stunning collection of weepies broken up by a faux-'live' medley. The double whammy of "Brass Buttons" and "$1000 Wedding" won't leave a dry eye in the house.

                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                David says: Gram Parsons was the first 'country' artist that I wasn't embarrassed to say I liked. Both this and the first Flying Buritto Brothers album are in my top 10 albums of all time, which makes it all the more hard to believe I could ever have sold it.

                                                Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy

                                                New Trip On The Old Wine

                                                  THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

                                                  RSD 2014 exclusive. 500 pressing, picture bag.

                                                  Many of the superlatives describing Angel Olsen refer to how seemingly little it takes for her to leave an audience speechless, even spellbound. But Olsen has never been as timid as those descriptors imply, and the noisy, fiery hints in her earlier work find a fuller expression on her newest LP, Burn Your Fire for No Witness. Here, Olsen sings with full-throated exultation, admonition, and bold, expressive melody. Also, with the help of producer John Congleton, her music now crackles with a churning, rumbling low end and a brighter energy.

                                                  Angel Olsen began singing as a young girl in St. Louis, where she explored the remarkable range of her voice and the places it could take her songwriting. Her self-released debut EP, Strange Cacti, belied both that early period of discovery and her Midwestern roots. Cautious and homespun on the one hand, the EP transported us to a mystical, unrecognizable world on the other, and it garnered extensive praise for its enigmatic beauty. Olsen then went further on Half Way Home, her first full-length album (released on Bathetic Records), which mined essential themes while showcasing a more developed voice. Olsen dared to be more personal.

                                                  After extensive touring, Olsen eventually settled for a time in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood, where she created "a collection of songs grown in a year of heartbreak, travel, and transformation." The new songs go on to tell us to leave, or to high-five a lover who is lacking, or to dance our way up and out of sorrow. Many of them also remain essentially unchanged from their bare beginnings. In leaving them so intact, a more self-assured Olsen is opening up to us, allowing us to be in the room with her at the very genesis of these songs, when the thread of creation is most vulnerable and least filtered. Our reward for entering this room are many head-turning moments and the powerful, unsettling recognition of ourselves in the weave of her songs.

                                                  This act of meaning-making recurs as a theme throughout the album, as the sublimating response to the power of negativity. In the song, "Stars", for example, Olsen wishes to "have the voice of everything" and in a moment of hatefulness and hurt realizes that the strength of fury results in the power she had been seeking all along. Thankfully for us, Olsen has decided to channel a lot of this newfound power into the ethereal, hypnotic performances of her new and revealing songs, sharing with us the full grace and beauty of her transformative moments.

                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                  1. Unfucktheworld
                                                  2. Forgiven/Forgotten
                                                  3. Hi-Five
                                                  4. White Fire
                                                  5. High & Wild
                                                  6. Lights Out
                                                  7. Stars
                                                  8. Iota
                                                  9. Dance Slow Decades
                                                  10. Enemy
                                                  11. Windows

                                                  The impulse that drove artists such as Suicide, Einstürzende Neubauten and Scott Walker to embark on extraordinary and uncompromising journeys, refusing to flinch in the face of humanity’s ugly truths and terrible beauty, also underpins the sound and vision of Xiu Xiu, aka LAbased duo Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo.

                                                  ‘Angel Guts: Red Classroom’ is the sound of Xiu Xiu’s descent into the deepest blackness endurable.

                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                  Angel’s Guts
                                                  Archie Fades
                                                  Stupid In The Dark
                                                  Lawrence Liquors
                                                  Black Dick
                                                  New Life Immigration
                                                  El Naco
                                                  Adult Friends
                                                  The Silver Platter
                                                  Bitter Melon
                                                  A Knife In The Sun
                                                  Cynthya's Unisex
                                                  Botanica De Los Angeles
                                                  Red Classroom

                                                  Eastlink

                                                  Angel Gun

                                                  Eastlink is a section of freeway in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Eastlink is also a band from Melbourne that delivers a blown-out, three-guitar assault, equal parts riff-fueled rock and noise-fucked psych. If it matters (and you know it does!), Eastlink features members of such notable Australian flag-bearers as Total Control, UV Race, Repairs, Lakes, Straightjacket Nation, Interzone, Teargas, etc. Really, they are just a f’n great band. Watch for their debut album in 2014 on In The Red!

                                                  Two Wings

                                                  Love's Spring

                                                    As the noughties came to a close, Two Wings (whose core members are singer/multi- instrumentalist/visual artist Hanna Tuulikki and guitarist/singer Ben Reynolds) formed. Having spent years bumping into each other in Glasgow's burgeoning folk scene, the pair finally took some time out to explore and develop their own compositions together, following in the direction of their many musical passions - from traditional folk (rock) to rock n' roll to psychedelia to soul and beyond. Glasgow has always been fertile ground for those seeking to synthesize traditional/ popular musical forms with a more progressive approach, and Hanna and Ben have long been travellers on this path. Hanna's experimental song-based project Nalle was described by Wire Magazine as "easily some of the most convincing free-folk the UK has ever produced". She was also a member of free form jazz folk ensemble Scatter and The Family Elan. Ben has been a solo artist for many years and his numerous releases include the 2009 solo guitar album How Day Earnt Its Night, released by New York's Tompkins Square Records. Ben was also the original lead-guitarist in critically acclaimed Glasgow folk-rockers TREMBLING BELLS and has collaborated with a number of other artists including Glasgow's Alasdair Roberts and Tin Angel Records' Baby Dee.

                                                    Tin Angel Records has made quite a noise with some of its recent signings, and Two Wings join an already fabulous roster. On tracks like the album opener Eikon, Hanna's utterly unique vocals steal the show, while the seven minute title track is progressive, haunting, even unsettling at times. Elsewhere, Alters & Thrones marries twinkles and chimes with ethereal vocals and the 8 minute epic album closer Forbidden Sublime purposefully meanders its way to a spellbinding climax. Two Wings are quite simply impossible to ignore.

                                                    The White Stripes

                                                    Lord Send Me An Angel / You're Pretty Good Looking For A Girl (Trendy American Remix)

                                                      Another classic single from the White Stripes archives.. originally released as part of the White Stripes Japan-Australia-New Zealand "Three Island Tour" in October 2000, and now these songs are back in print for the first time in over a decade. The A-side is a cover of Blind Willie McTell's "Lord, Send Me an Angel" with parts of his classic "Ticket Agent" thrown into the mix for good measure. Pay attention to Jack White's update of the lyrics to reflect his own geographical location. The flipside is an Auto-Tuned (before they called it that) remix of "You're Pretty Good Looking" that's a peculiar novelty to say the least. Both tracks are re-mastered directly from the original master tape.

                                                      "Mantler's 2010 effort “Monody” is a soulful and engagingly moody album that features singer/songwriter Chris A. Cummings' knack for bare-bones soft rock and indie soul. With songs centred most prominently around Cummings' lo-fi Wurlitzer keyboard compositions, “Monody” often sounds something like a mix of 70s icons Steely Dan backed by French pop duo Air. These are low-key but still somehow hugely cinematic tracks that register as a kind of indie rock take on film noir. It doesn't hurt that Cummings fills out these arrangements with orchestral flourishes, various wind instruments, and percussion elements that help to broaden his already expansive jazz-infused musical palette. However, just when you think you've got Cummings pegged as the captain of his soft rock yacht, he smacks you with such mid-album cuts as "Fresh and Fair" that pop and percolate with electronic keyboards and programmed beats. Similarly, the creeping and stealthy "Breaking Past and Day" hits with a kind of 80s synth pop Taco-meets-ELO vibe" - All Music Guide.

                                                      Aron Paul

                                                      Angel Calling

                                                        Described as a mix of jazz, folk, classical, easy listening, with pretty catchy and simple hooks.

                                                        Ella Garoo

                                                        Urban Chanson

                                                          Layered downbeat rhythms from Colin Thorpe (Chapter And The Verse), vocals from Jo Price. Soulful, spooky, leftfield, downbeat. Lyric sheet included too - how thoughtful!


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